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McCain Gaffes Pile Up; Critics Pile On

By MIKE ALLEN & JIM VANDEHEI
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Politico.com
posted: 47 DAYS 21 HOURS AGO
comments: 1059
filed under: Election News, John McCain
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(July 21) -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said “Iraq” when he apparently meant “Afghanistan” on Monday, adding to a string of mixed-up word choices that is giving ammunition to the opposition.
Just in the past three weeks, McCain has also mistaken "Somalia" for "Sudan," and even football’s Green Bay Packers for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Verbal Flubs on the Campaign Trail

John McCain campaigns July 18, 2008, in Warren, Mich.Carolyn Kaster, AP

GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain has made a string of verbal missteps in the past few weeks. In a recent interview, he appeared to mix up Iraq and Afghanistan. He has also mixed up Sudan and Somalia -- and the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers.

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Ironically, the errors have been concentrated in what should be his area of expertise – foreign affairs.
McCain will turn 72 the day after Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) accepts his party’s nomination for president, calling new attention to the sensitive issue of McCain’s advanced age, three days before the start of his own convention.
The McCain campaign says Obama has had plenty of flubs of his own, including a reference to "57 states" and a string of misstated place names during the primaries that Republicans gleefully sent around as YouTubes.
McCain aides point out that he spends much more time than Obama talking extemporaneously, taking questions from voters and reporters. "Being human and tripping over your tongue occasionally doesn't mean a thing," a top McCain official said.
But McCain's mistakes raise a serious, if uncomfortable question: Are the gaffes the result of his age? And what could that mean in the Oval Office?
Voters, thinking about their own relatives, can be expected to scrutinize McCain’s debate performances for signs of slippage.
Every voter has a parent, grandparent or a friend whose mental acuity declined as they grew older. It happens at different times for different people — and there is ample evidence many in their 70s are sharp and fit as ever.
In McCain’s case, his medical records, public appearances and travel schedule have suggested he remains at the top of his game.
But his liberal critics have been pouncing on every misstatement as a sign that he’s an old man.
Already, late-night comics have made McCain’s age an almost nightly topic, with CBS’s David Letterman getting a laugh just about any time he says the word “McCain” and “nap” in the same sentence.
Last week, McCain tried to defuse the issue by pretending to doze off during an appearance with NBC’s Conan O’Brien.
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Republicans would like to make the case that McCain is seasoned and Obama is a callow newcomer to the public stage. But that’ll be harder if he keeps up the verbal slips, which make it easier for comedians and critics to pile on.
“FIRST GAFFE OF OBAMA TRIP......GOES TO MCCAIN,” blared Monday afternoon’s banner headline on the left-leaning Huffington Post, accompanied by a photo of McCain appearing to slap his forehead.
That referred to an ABCNews.com posting asserting that McCain appeared to “confuse Iraq and Afghanistan, in a “Good Morning America” interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, who asked whether the "the situation in Afghanistan is precarious and urgent.”
McCain responded: “I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border," McCain said. The ABC posting added: “Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border. Afghanistan and Pakistan do.”
Unfortunately for McCain, that wasn’t an isolated slip. Among the other lapses:
—“Somalia” for “Sudan” — As recounted in a reporter’s pool report from McCain’s Straight Talk Express bus on June 30, the senator said while discussing Darfur, a region of Sudan: "How can we bring pressure on the government of Somalia?"
Senior adviser Mark Salter corrected him: “Sudan.”
— "Germany” for “Russia” — A YouTube clip from last year memorializes McCain referring to Vladimir Putin of Russia – following a trip to Germany — as “President Putin of Germany.”
—This spring, McCain said troops in Iraq were “down to pre-surge levels” when in fact there were 20,000 more troops than when the surge policy began.
—Also this spring, McCain twice appeared to mistake Sunnis and Shiites, two branches of Islam that split violently.
—In Phoenix earlier this month, McCain referred to "Czechoslovakia,” which has been divided since Jan. 1, 1993, into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. He also referred to Czechoslovakia during a debate in November and a radio show in April.
—In perhaps the most curious incident, McCain said earlier this month that as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, he had tried to confuse his captors by giving the names of Pittsburgh Steelers starting players when asked to identify his squadron mates. McCain has told the story many times over the years – but had always referred correctly to the names he gave as members of the Green Bay Packers.
© 2008 Capitol News Company LLC
2008-07-22 09:27:37
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Rkmac560

04:06 PMJul 29 2008

Obama makes plenty of gaffes.The difference is the media doesn't report them.The other day, Obama, during a speech, claimed he was a member of a comittee that he had never served on.The liberal media just buried it.What do you think would have been said about McCain?

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Herrickjaro

01:11 PMJul 29 2008

McCain iis to old to be president

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Urthaman

03:23 AMJul 27 2008

Obama is a great speaker when he is on script or reading from teleprompters, but when having to think for himself, he is nothing short of Porky Pig's twin. In a 40 minute question and answer session, he either stuttered, repeated phrases or said uhehuhiohuh a total of 7 1/2 minutes. This get's covered up by main stream media. Fox news is generally above these gaff's and points out none from either candidate where main stream media just point's out McCain's. Such as when Obama said Arab was the spoken language in Iraq(whoops).

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Urthaman

03:22 AMJul 27 2008

Obama is a great speaker when he is on script or reading from teleprompters, but when having to think for himself, he is nothing short of Porky Pig's twin. In a 40 minute question and answer session, he either stuttered, repeated phrases or said uhehuhiohuh a total of 7 1/2 minutes. This get's covered up by main stream media. Fox news is generally above these gaff's and points out none from either candidate where main stream media just point's out McCain's. Such as when Obama said Arab was the spoken language in Iraq(whoops).

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RdmDav

06:46 PMJul 26 2008

John McCain is too old and has shown in the past year his memory is just what one would expect from a 72 year old man. His attacks on Omama is relentess on the war in Iraq. But why is this issuie so important? Almost sounds like Bush and that is all we heard for the past 8 years.

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Avarua57

07:58 PMJul 25 2008

McPsycho has been courting the grouchy oldman vote , i refuse to join that voting block , WHY , were grouchy old men not old Psycho's ...... Even us Grouchy old men know when an old geezer turns from grouchy to displaying symptoms of dimentia,,,,,,

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Ezazbruno

07:03 PMJul 25 2008

vietnamvet1374: Excuse me, but you're too dumb to be a Vietnam vet, unless you're referring to being an animal doctor in Southeast Asia. Brilliant foreign diplomacy by an experienced diplomat. His troops love him and foreign leaders admire him. O B A M A '08: "Positive Social Change We Can Believe In, Because Quality Matters"

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Ezazbruno

06:58 PMJul 25 2008

"I am not 72 years old." -- McCain

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Bidcmedina

04:34 PMJul 25 2008

SOME ONE SHOULD BE BEHIND JONH McCAIN AT ALL TIMES TO WHISPER IN HIS EAR AND LEVEL UP HIS MEMORY THE SAME WAY NANCY DID WITH RONALD REAGAN. THE PROBLEM IS THAT CINDY McCAIN IS NOT NANCY REAGAN. THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THESE TWO LADIES AND THE WHOLE COUNTRY MUST BE AWARE OF THAT. WE NEED NEW BLOOD IN THE WHITE HOUSE, A PRESIDENT THAT IS COMPUTER LITERATE, WITH MORE ENERGY AND SPEED. WE NEED WORKING CAPACITY AND SOME WHO CAN WORK OVERTIME IN THE WHITE HOUSE. WE HAVE TOO MANY PROBLEMS TO SOLVE. I'M SORRY BUT CINDY SHOULD GO BACK TO HER BEER BUSINESS INSTEAD OF TRYING TO IMITATE NANCY REAGAN.

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FOFOYE

02:37 PMJul 25 2008

What good can anyone say about McCain except that he survived captivity? He knows how to win wars? What wars has he won?He says he won Kosovo, the Persian Gulf War and the war in Bosnia. He must have been skipping snipers with Hillary in Bosnia. Does something that happened only in his mind qualify him to be president of the United States? He criticizes Obama's trip abroad when Obama has spoken to the same people he has during his last trip, only Obama got greater acclaim.

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